


A Tangle of Time

by felypsa



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22534642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felypsa/pseuds/felypsa
Summary: A romantic AU epilogue to the mini-series Quicksilver: No Surrender. Synapse (Emily Guerrero) was telepathically linked with Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) while he was trapped in the timeless dimension. Now that he's back, she has a huge mess of emotions to sort through -- some of them hers, and some of them his.
Relationships: Emily Guerrero/Pietro Maximoff
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	A Tangle of Time

_**Quicksilver...** Quicksilver...Quicksilver!_

It’s so strange to have her thoughts echo back to her mind, layering on top of one another—thousands of them, millions of them, all contained in a single point of time. Infinite angels crammed on the head of a pin. She lives inside one moment of time, replicated over and over again. The moment he’s gone. 

And in the next, he’s back. But the weight of those hyper-condensed memories is heavy in her mind. She can’t explain it but she feels like he was gone for _ages._ If it weren’t for Jericho and Wanda attempting to explain the nature of the time-frozen dimension Pietro was trapped in, Emily would be doubting her own sense of memory. She sees the clock on her laptop and knows that mere seconds have passed; but her mind somehow retains that elastic memory of calling out his name, again and again, boosted and projected into that timeless void by Jericho’s magic. 

She barely understands it. It’s a scary thing for a telepath to be uncertain of a phenomenon happening in your own mind. Maybe that’s why she hangs back at the mansion’s entrance, watching while Pietro is welcomed home by the other Avengers. Her overwhelming relief at seeing him again tangles with tendrils of paranoia telling her that she is only seeing what she so desperately wants to see, and not what is real. The exposure to Wanda and Jericho’s magic, sending her mind to dimensions beyond what any human can imagine, makes her teeth ache with uncertainty. 

As the other Avengers guide him back into the mansion, Emily’s breath hitches. She’s trying to keep her telepathy to herself, but there’s some indelible link between them that she can’t just cut off. She senses Pietro’s uncertainty joining hers, thickening the tangle in her mind. She senses his relief at seeing people again, people who can move and speak to him, people who care enough about him to see him get some rest. She senses his delight in being reunited with his pet turtle, the only creature that kept him company in that place out of time. 

And then their eyes meet, and she’s not sure _what_ she senses, because there’s so much in that single exchange that it feels like another moment layering on top of itself, again and again and again... 

But like with so many other things about Pietro, it passes by too quickly. As he passes her to go through the mansion door, he breathes, “Hi, Emily,” and she finds a smile as she says, “Welcome home, Pietro.” But Steve’s ushering him along to get some rest, and Jericho is re-explaining the circumstances of his disappearance to the rest of the team, and the whole group moves past her before she can figure out what else she can say. 

She closes her eyes as she leans against the door. Pietro’s emotions retreat from her consciousness, and she’s left with only the mess of her own. 

\- - - - - 

She’s not the only one incapable of sleeping that night. She feels like her brain’s resting on a bed of needles, and it only takes one twitch of a neuron to wake her fully. Just a tiny jolt of excitement causes her to sit up in bed, sticking her hand into her long, thick strands of hair. She blinks hard a few times, following the source of the excitement with her telepathy. It’s Pietro, awake despite everyone’s insistence that he get sleep, and Wanda, the two of them heading out to an old favorite diner of theirs while everyone else sleeps. 

She smiles to herself, happy for him, for them. Wanda pushed her powers to their limits to reach her twin brother. They deserve to spend this first night together. But sleep is hard to come by after she senses they’ve left. While Pietro takes this moment to slow down and appreciate what she has, her mind is racing. It takes rapidfire laps around the superimposed layers of memories and emotions coiled thickly in her mind. 

It’s trapped in an infinite loop — she has to make it stop. She has to remember where it began in order to find its end. She focuses, disappearing within herself, following that too-fast train of thought through tangled threads, chasing some elusive point of light she can hardly see... 

Much like Pietro chased that beacon all around the world. And she helped him. 

_That’s where it began._ That’s when she slipped into his mind, breaking mental barriers for him, allowing him to snag that beacon, release the other superheroes, and save the world... 

Is it possible? Emily touches her head, breathing deeply through her revelation. Did a part of her mind go with him to that timeless place, only returning to her now that he’s back too? Is that why she feels so... _much?_

She has to speak with him again. Though even then, she might not get her answers. 

\- - - - - 

She finds him the next day tending to Mr. Dibbles’ new terrarium. He’s already got the glass tank set up, lights gleaming over earthy substrate, and is meticulously placing bright green fake plants and crawling ivy inside. She catches a glimpse of Mr. Dibbles under a woodsy hide, tiny reptilian head barely peeking out. Pietro coos to him as he sticks a finger inside to gently run along the tortoise’s head. “Who’s a happy hidey boy? Is it you, Mr. Dibbles?” 

She presses a hand over her mouth to keep her laughter inside, but really, it’s sweet. As much fun as it would be to walk in and get his attention during this intimate moment of bonding with his pet, she gives him the dignity of his privacy for a few more seconds until he finishes his careful placement of the decorations. 

And then she walks in, and he notices immediately. A blush crawls up from his neck, and he takes a large step away from the terrarium. “Emily — hi.” 

A smile curls her lips. “Hi. Um, so...looks like Mr. Dibbles is one of us now?” 

He glances at the tank with a slight smirk. “Yeah, looks like. I figure if you can survive the weird timeless shit dimension with me, I think you earn your place on the team.” 

A short, breathless laugh slips out of Emily’s lips, but she’s more distracted by her heart heavily pounding. While she’s trying to find the words she wants to say, she senses Pietro’s discomfort in the brief silence that hangs between them. She swallows quickly and rushes to speak — at the same time he does. “I’m really glad — ” 

“Emily, I wanted to say — ” 

They immediately stop, grinning awkwardly, and Emily sweeps her arm toward him grandly to encourage him to go first. 

His fingers rake through his hair a little too aggressively, and he turns to stare into Mr. Dibbles’ terrarium. “I wanted to say…thank you. For helping me catch the beacon in the first place, and then for…trying to find out where I went. You didn’t have to do either of those things. I expected you not to, honestly.” He inhales deeply, as if gathering the courage to tilt his head and look at her directly. “It was a surprise to—to ‘hear’ you calling my name, but it was the first thing that gave me hope in that space.” 

The sincerity that Emily feels from him that wraps around her heart in a tight coil that’s almost painful. Her mouth melts into a smile, and she wastes no more time. “I’m so glad to hear that. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Anytime, Pietro.” 

He seems to lose his nerve, his gaze darting back down to where his reptilian friend is hiding, as if he wishes he could join him. “I’m grateful for it, but I couldn’t ask you to do anything like that again. You’ve already done so much for me, and while I don’t want to take anyone’s help for granted, I’m—I’m trying not to expect other people to do things for me. In that space, forced to be alone, I learned that if I want to help myself, that change starts with me.” He sighs and straightens up. “I’ve started that process, I think, but I have a long way to go still.” 

Emily shakes her head. He’s learned so much and so little at the same time. She steps forward until she’s close enough to touch his shoulder. He stiffens slightly under her touch, but at least he doesn’t run away and leave her in a whirlwind. “Just because you’re in the middle of your journey doesn’t mean that you’re not worthy of help until you’ve reached your destination, Pietro. I’m proud of you for taking the time to look inward and discover what you need to make yourself a happier person, but you’re allowed to ask for support along the way.” 

He doesn’t answer. But he’s still here. 

She goes on. “I know what you’ve gone through. Literally. Your experiences, your emotions, they’re in my head. I know how many times you saved other people, over and over and over, but you only save yourself when it’s almost too late.” She squeezes his shoulder, her voice softening. “When will you start to accept that you are already worthy to be helped, to be saved, to be — to be loved, as you are?” 

He spins around to look at her with supernatural speed, and all at once she’s hit with feelings swirling around in his mind: some combination of yearning and joy and doubt and adoration. They push through the confusing time-layered mess in her mind, and she feels so powerfully _present_ that she acts without thinking, without questioning. She pushes him back, bending at the waist, and locks her lips against his. Immediately his arms loop around her neck as if she’s his anchor, and they become frozen in _this_ moment of time. 

But this one is simple and purifying. All of Emily’s thoughts unspool into a single thread of emotional clarity. For the first time, they both know where they stand and have made it their reality. 

They part, their faces flushed and giddy laughter on their lips. Pietro opens his mouth to speak, but Emily is already fully in his mind, and she cuts him off with another deep kiss. 

It doesn’t matter how long it lasts. It’s not enough. But now they have their own time.


End file.
